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Children always dream of what they want to be when they "grow up."  But when a person has lived their life, raised a family and has entered "old age," careers do not always stop there, as experienced first-hand by this month's entrepreneur.

Grandma Moses was born Anna Mary Robertson on September 7, 1860, the third of ten children (5 girls, 5 boys) born to Russell King Robertson, a farmer, and his wife Margaret of Greenwich, New York.  As a child, her life was happy and everyone worked hard on the family's farm.  When her father took the children on long walks in the woods, Anna Mary learned early on to observe nature.  She was a lively child with mischievous gray eyes, a quick wit and cheerful personality -- traits she carried throughout her life. She taught herself painting at a very young age when her father purchased drawing tablets to keep the children busy in their free time. She loved to draw happy, colorful scenes that she called "lambscapes," and created her own bright colored paints from such things as grape juice and lemon juice. What little formal education Anna Mary had was obtained in a one-room country school which she attended only in the summer due to the bitter winter cold and her lack of warm clothing.  At the age of 12, she began earning her living as a housekeeper working at homes near the family's farm, a job she stayed with until she was 27 years old.

In 1897, Anna Mary met and married Thomas Salmon Moses, a handyman at the farm where she was working at the time. The newlyweds honeymooned in North Carolina and on their way back to New York, decided to invest their combined $600 savings in the rental of a farm near Staunton, Virginia.  They remained in Virginia for  twenty years.  Ten children (five of whom died in infancy) were born to them.  In addition to caring for the children and running the house, Anna Mary made butter and potato chips, which she sold to neighbors.  In her spare time, she enjoyed embroidering pictures of country scenes in wool yarn.

The couple returned to New York State in 1917 and began farming at Eagle Bridge, New York.  Russell died there in 1927 and Anna Mary continued to operate the farm for several years, with the help of a son and daughter-in-law.  When arthritis crippled her hands at the age of 76, she had to give up doing farm chores and her beloved embroidery.  Nevertheless, she longed to keep busy and took up painting with a passion every day -- she could could no longer hold an embroidery needle, but she could hold a brush, and could not bear the thought of being idle.  She would sit on an old, battered swivel chair, perch her small body on two large pillows and place her Masonite canvas flat on an old kitchen table before her as she had no easel.  For inspiration for each painting, she sat quietly and remembered her long, happy life on the farm with family and friends -- as a farm child, housekeeper and farmer's wife.  She worked five or six hours each day on her paintings. At night she liked to watch TV Westerns -- not for the drama but because she liked to see horses.  Her brightly-colored paintings were created from the sky downward, adding mountains, hills, trees, houses, then cattle and lastly, the people.  Years later, she said, "If I hadn't started painting, I would have raised chickens.  Painting's not important.  The important thing is keeping busy."  She entered her first paintings in the county fair, along with samples of her raspberry jam and strawberry preserves.  Her jam had won a ribbon, but nobody noticed those first paintings.  Many of her early paintings were given to family members and friends as gifts, and others she sold to individuals for $2 for a small painting and $3 for a larger one.  She also displayed her paintings in a local drug store, where they were priced from $3 to $5, depending on size.

In 1938, a New York engineer and art collector noticed them for sale in the drug store and was so impressed that he purchased all of them.  He then drove to Anna Mary's home and bought ten others she had there.  The following year, she was represented in a "contemporary unknown painters" exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art under "Mrs. Moses" in New York. But she did not remain unknown for long!  Critics called her work "lovable," "fresh," "charming, "adorable" and "full of naive and childlike joy."  The press eagerly dubbed her, "Grandma Moses."

She produced over 3,600 paintings over the next 30 years.  Her first solo exhibition titled, "What a Farm Wife Painted," opened in October 1940.  Her paintings were quickly reproduced on Christmas cards, tiles, curtains, dresses, cookie jars and dinnerware, and were used to pitch cigarettes, cameras, lipstick and instant coffee. In November 2006, her work "Sugaring Off" (1943), became her highest selling work at $1.2 million.  In June of 2011, her work "The Red Bridge (1940) sold for $24,150.  A 1942 piece, "The Old Checkered House, 1862" was appraised at $60,000 (originally purchased in the 1940s for under $10).  During the 1950s, Grandma Moses' exhibitions were so popular that they broke attendance records all over the world. A cultural icon, the spry, productive nonagenarian was continually cited as an inspiration for housewives, widows and retirees.  A U.S. commemorative stamp was issued in her honor in 1969. 

A German fan once offered his explanation for the huge popularity of her work:  "There emanates from her paintings a light-hearted optimism; the world she shows us is beautiful and it is good.  You feel at home in all of these pictures, and you know their meaning.  The unrest and the neurotic insecurity of the present day make us inclined to enjoy the simple and affirmative outlook of Grandma Moses."

The character Granny on the popular 1960s rural comedy television series, "The Beverly Hillbillies," was named Daisy Mae Moses as an homage to Grandma Moses, who died on December 13, 1961 at the age of 101, shortly before the series began.  Her doctor said she had died of hardening of the arteries, but the best way to describe the cause of death, he suggested, was to say, "she just wore out."

The Bennington Museum in Bennington, Vermont, holds the largest public collection of Grandma Moses' paintings in the country, as well as "yarn paintings," art supplies, and the 18th century tilt-top table she painted with rustic scenes and used as her easel.

In her autobiography, "My Life's History," published in 1951, Grandma Moses expressed her basic philosophy:  "I look back on my life like a good day's work, it was done and I feel satisfied with it.  I was happy and contented, I knew nothing better and made the best out of what life offered.  And life is what we make it, always has been, always will be."

Invoice verification is an essential, and accepted, part of factoring.  Mazon generally verifies invoices through written proof to ensure their validity and that there are no offsets of issues that may reduce the expected payment.  This also allows Mazon to not disturb your customers.  Occasionally, Mazon will verify completion of work by phone, email or fax.

If you would like to find out more about our factoring services for your business and/or apply for an account with Mazon Associates, please phone us at 972-554-6967 (toll-free 800-442-2740) or visit our website www.mazon.com.

Mar. 2: Read Across America Day, Dr. Suess's Birthday; Mar. 8: World Kidney Day; Mar. 11: Daylight Savings Time Begins; Mar. 17: St. Patrick's Day; Mar. 20: First Day of Spring; Mar. 24: World Tuberculosis Day; Mar. 27: American Diabetes Alert Day.  March is also National Nutrition Month and Workplace Eye Wellness Month.

Daylight Savings Time (DST) for 2012 begins on Sunday, March 11th and ends on Sunday, November 4th.  It's easiest to remember what direction to turn your clock with "spring ahead, and fall back" to coincide with the season.  Arizona and Hawaii are the only two states that do not observe this annual time ritual, choosing to stay on standard time year-round.

Long-term success is never achieved on our own.  The phrase "a self-made man" is a myth -- all along the way we need support.

-- Issy Sharp, Four Seasons Hotels

Soft Sell, the New Art of Selling, by Tim Connor, (4th Edition) published by Sourcebooks on April 1, 2003.  ISBN 1-4022-0112-5 (paperback). 

The 1st edition of this book was published in 1981.  For over twenty years, it has been the number one best selling sales book in the world with sales over 1,000,000 copies, in 23 languages.  What more do we need to say other than if you are in sales and have never read this classic best seller, buy it today!  A must-have book to be included in every business owner's company library.

A man on a bike, carrying two saddlebags, was stopped by a guard while crossing the US-Mexican border.  He had rigged up a primitive rope bridge to by-pass the customs control.

"What's in the bags?," demanded the guard.

"Sand," the cyclist answered.

"Take them off.  I need to take a look," the guard retorted.

The guard emptied the bags and found out they contained nothing but sand.  The man reloaded his bags and continued across the border.  A week later, the same man was crossing again with two more bags.  The guard demanded to see them, and again they contained nothing but sand.  This continued every week for six months, until one day the cyclist failed to appear.  A few days later, that same guard ran into the cyclist in Tijuana.

"Hey, where have you been?" the guard inquired.  "You sure had us wondering.  We knew you were smuggling something across the border.  So, tell me and I won't say a word.  What was it?"

The man smiled broadly and told him the truth, "Bicycles!"

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